Middle Eastern Women's Conference-Geneva Declaration & Plan of Action-Women's Federation For World Peace, International Attachments: MEW2006 Mid DeclarCult of Peace_WOMAN.doc
 
 
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Geneva Declaration and Plan of Action

(addendum to 2005 Athens declaration and Plan of Action)

June 20-21, 2006

 

Women’s Federation for World peace, International

 

Middle-Eastern Women Educating for

Peace in the World

 

Introduction                                

Affirming the landmark decisions of the General Assembly (GA) (52/15) and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (52/15) Resolutions of 1997 that proclaimed the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace, and the GA (53/25) Resolution of 1998 creating the “International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001–2010).

 

Taking into account the considerable investment of UNESCO in the “Education for All Programme” and the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights concerning the “United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education” (1995–2004) and the extended “World Programme on Human Rights Education” that has been launched by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human rights (OHCHR),

 

Recognizing that our most commonly felt aspiration towards world peace, as noted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many other international and regional instruments, as well as within the cultural heritage of all religious and ethnic groups is most often exemplified as a “global family”, which is logically and most naturally expanded from a microcosm of that model, the family unit.

 

Express concern about constant prioritizing of resources for perfunctory relief aid strategies over a longer-term, comprehensive investment in education and development,

 

Voice alarm that although volumes of human rights norms and mechanisms have been agreed upon over the last 60 years, the instance of human rights violations has only increased and intensified and incentives for the promotion of shared tasks and responsibilities through inclusive partnerships and educational programs has not been allotted ample human and financial resources,

 

Recognize a gap in our institutionalized “education for peace” and “human rights learning” strategies that does not address the potential that families built on ethical principles of peace-building and forged with bonds of love have as a norm-setting institution,

 

Note that it is the shared task of the United Nations, governments and all civil society to commit themselves to the transformation needed to secure a global family based upon common roots and shared responsibilities, willingness to give and “live for the sake of others”, that must begin with those in positions of authority and governance, who take on “parental” role models for our emerging culture,

 

Declaration

We, Middle Eastern Women,

 

Gathered at the Tenth WFWPI Middle Eastern Women’s Conference on “Building a Culture of Peace in the Family: Educating for Peace in the World”, organized in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations sharing the hope and expectations of all the international community gathered here for the inauguration of the new Human Rights Council ,

 

Building upon the deliberations of the nine previous conferences and their follow-up; including projects, resolutions, declarations, statements and publications[1], to realize that a culture of lasting peace and human dignity requires a basic shift towards preventive strategies that has education as a pillar with special attention given to the non-formal or family–based education and it’s role to provide an environment of security, hope and peace,

 

Recognize that strong family traditions and the rich cultural heritage of the Middle East that are conducive to educating for culture of peace and call upon all actors, especially women to make a renewed determination to implement these goals, beginning with each one’s personal commitment to change her/his own attitudes and behaviors in their own families,

 

Find that as mothers and preservers of life and as caretakers who consider themselves a contributing part of a global family, showing the will to overcome differences and build networks of solidarity that reach across the constructed barriers of ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender and age, commit for these said goals,

 

Plan of Action:

 

Creation of the Middle East Human Rights Initiative summarized by “WOMAN”

 

 

And, therefore commit ourselves to do our utmost to see that all members of the global family receive all the tools necessary wherein their own character and potential can develop as they knowingly and meaningfully contribute to a culture of heart and peace.



[1] NGO Statements; ECOSOC High Level Segment (July, 1999), Commission on Human Rights, (2002, 2003, 2004,2005), Declarations; Nicosia Declaration (1999), Crete Declaration (2002), Middle Eastern Women’s Declaration and Plan of Action for a Culture of Peace(2005) Conference Reports; Women and the Future of the Middle East (1997), The Role of Families in Creating a Peaceful Middle East (1998), Women and the Age of Global Family (1999), Women and a Culture of Peace (2000), Women and Dialogue among Civilizations (2001), Women’s Role in Building World Peace through Non-Violence (2002), Women’s Role in Building a Culture of Peace (2003), Realization of Peace in Women’s Hands: Meeting the Challenge (2004), Creating a Culture of Peace for our Children (2005),





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